Classical Chinese medicine, reimagined for everyone
TCM for All Institute is a non-profit graduate school of acupuncture built on a simple idea: you shouldn't have to uproot your life to train in a healing tradition refined over millennia. Study online, sharpen your hands in Wyoming, and treat patients near home.
First day of classes: May 3, 2027 · Interest list now open
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Why we exist
A school built around one word: all
Too many capable people are drawn to Chinese medicine but turned away by geography — the demand that they quit jobs, move cities, and put life on hold. We designed this institute from a blank page to remove that barrier, without lowering the bar.
Study where you live. All didactic coursework is 100% online — live, interactive classes that meet ACAHM's regular-and-substantive-interaction standard, not correspondence lectures.
Hands-on in Wyoming. Once a quarter, the cohort gathers at the Wyoming campus hub for a 3–4 day skills intensive — point location, pulse and tongue diagnosis, needling, moxibustion, cupping, tuina.
Intern near home. Your 690 clinical hours happen at a licensed partner clinic in your own state, under an acupuncturist appointed to our clinical faculty.
Bilingual, and scholarship-first. Live classes run in English and Mandarin; Founding Scholars in the May 2027 cohort receive up to 50% tuition awards.
仁心 仁术
The program at a glance
The Accelerated Hybrid Master of Acupuncture (MAc)
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months, start to finish — nine year-round quarters
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clock hours — above the 1,905-hour ACAHM minimum
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supervised clinical hours, near your own home
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Wyoming intensives — one per quarter, 3–4 days each
How you'll learn
Study online. Train in Wyoming. Intern near home.
Didactics: 100% online, live
TCM foundations, channels and points, biomedicine, and practice management — all taught in live synchronous classes where canonical texts and modern science stay in conversation, in both languages.
Every three months, 3–4 days at the Wyoming campus hub: point location, pulse and tongue diagnosis, needling, moxibustion, cupping, tuina, and Clean Needle Technique assessment. Physical skills are trained physically.
From month 10, you observe and then intern at a licensed acupuncture clinic in your home state — 690 hours under a supervisor appointed to our adjunct clinical faculty. Your first patients are your neighbors.
Before the first class, this is already a community
"I've taught this medicine for over twenty years, and the hardest thing has always been watching good students give up because the nearest school was a thousand miles away. This institute exists so they don't have to."
Dr. L. Chen, L.Ac. Founding Faculty, TCM Foundations
"A bilingual classroom is not a translated classroom. We read the classics in their own words and teach the science on its own evidence — students get the full measure of both."
Prof. M. Alvarez, PhD Founding Faculty, Biomedical Sciences
"Training in your own community means your first patients are your neighbors — and the practice you'll build after boards starts taking root on day one of your internship."
Dr. S. Nakamura, DACM Founding Director of Clinical Education
Be part of the founding class — May 2027
Applications open October 1, 2026. Join the interest list for info-session invitations and Founding Scholars award details.
TCM for All Institute is a proposed non-profit, degree-granting institution of higher education taking shape in Wyoming, built for students in every state. We started with a simple question: if you could build a school of Chinese medicine from scratch today, what should it look like?
In 2025, a group of clinicians, scholars, and community-clinic volunteers began meeting to read the medical classics together. Every discussion circled back to the same frustration: so many people want to study this medicine, and so few can get through the door. Tuition stops some; language stops others; and the demand to uproot a life and move across the country to one of a handful of campus cities stops most.
The reading circle became a founding team. We put "for all" into the institute's name not as a slogan but as a design requirement: a non-profit charter, bilingual courses, coursework you can take from any state, and clinical training in your own community. In May 2027, our first students log into their first live class — and start planning their first trip to Wyoming.
President's welcome
A word of welcome
Every path into medicine begins with curiosity and is completed by discipline. Chinese medicine asks for both in equal measure: respect for two thousand years of recorded clinical experience, and honesty before the questions modern science raises. These are not competing loyalties — they are the same rigor, twice applied.
Every choice we've made in building this institute — bilingual instruction, a fully online didactic core, quarterly hands-on intensives, internships in students' home communities — points at one outcome: practitioners with sound hands, honest minds, and the range to serve patients across languages and backgrounds.
If that is the kind of clinician you intend to become, the founding class of 2027 has a seat for you. Our doors are wide; our standards are not lowered for anyone.
印
Dr. J. W. Huang, PhD, L.Ac. Founding President (designate)
Mission & values
Our mission: rigorous Chinese medicine education, within reach
Our mission is to expand access to Traditional Chinese Medicine education — removing the geographical, financial, and language barriers so that capable people nationwide can train as licensed acupuncturists without uprooting their lives, taught across two languages that connect canon with evidence.
通
Access
Fully online didactics, bilingual teaching, and non-profit pricing lower every barrier except the standard itself — starting with geography.
严
Rigor
Classics read in the original; science taught on the evidence. Neither tradition gets a discount.
承
Lineage
We honor teacher-to-student transmission and turn lineage experience into curriculum that can be taught, tested, and passed on.
证
Evidence
Students learn to ask better questions: what works, for whom, and by what mechanism.
仁
Service
Your internship serves the community you live in — the training itself gives care back to your hometown.
群
Community
Small cohorts, faculty mentorship, and cross-class support — in study as in clinic, no one works alone.
Roadmap
From founding to first graduation
2025
Founding team formed
Curriculum architecture drafted; the "for all" charter adopted.
2026
Wyoming incorporation & license filing
Incorporation as a Wyoming non-profit with the federal 501(c)(3) filing underway; the Chapter 30 private-postsecondary license application goes to the Wyoming Department of Education, surety bond posted.
October 2026
Applications open
Founding Scholars awards launch alongside monthly online info sessions; priority deadline January 15, 2027.
Early 2027
State license & NC-SARA (target)
Target: WDE approval in hand, followed immediately by NC-SARA membership so students in the 49 other states can enroll online.
April 26–30, 2027
Orientation week
The founding cohort's first gathering at the Wyoming hub — meet the faculty, receive your white coat, open the institute together.
May 3, 2027
First day of classes
The founding cohort of 40 begins Quarter 1 — online classes start, with the first quarterly intensive inside the term.
Mid-2028
ACAHM pre-accreditation filing
After one full academic year of instruction we become eligible to file: self-study report submitted, site visit hosted.
Spring 2029 (target)
Candidacy granted
The goal: ACAHM Pre-Accreditation (Candidacy) by month 24 of operation, before the first cohort graduates — the key that unlocks national board eligibility.
August 2029
First class graduates
Twenty-seven months complete: the founding class finishes 105 credits and 690 clinical hours, then sits the NCBAHM national boards and applies for state licensure.
Approvals & accreditation
An honest timeline
New institutions earn their approvals over time, and we've chosen to publish our progress plainly. Everything below is a plan and a goal — not a claim of current status.
Body
What it covers
Our status
Wyoming Department of Education
State license to operate as a private postsecondary institution (Chapter 30)
Filing in progress, surety bond and fee included; targeted approval before the May 2027 opening
IRS 501(c)(3)
Federal non-profit, tax-exempt status
Wyoming non-profit incorporation and federal exemption filing in progress
NC-SARA
Interstate reciprocity to enroll online students from the 49 states beyond Wyoming
Membership application files immediately after state approval
ACAHM
Programmatic pre-accreditation (Candidacy) for the Master of Acupuncture
Eligible after one full academic year of instruction; we file at the earliest window, targeting Candidacy by month 24 — before the first cohort graduates
NCBAHM
National board exams — graduates of programs holding Candidacy qualify via the formal-education route
Follows ACAHM progress; curriculum built to the 1,905-hour national standard (1,920 delivered)
Important: TCM for All Institute is a new institution in formation and does not yet hold any of the approvals above. Exam and licensure eligibility depend on approval status at the time of graduation. We will update this page as each milestone is reached.
Leadership & board
The people holding the standard
校
Dr. J. W. Huang
Founding President (designate). Thirty years in medical education; insists bilingual means doubly rigorous.
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Dr. L. Chen, L.Ac.
Academic Dean (designate); professor of acupuncture and TCM theory, editor of a bilingual point-functions textbook.
诊
Dr. S. Nakamura, DACM
Director of Clinical Education (designate); community-clinic veteran who designed the 690-hour distributed internship network.
董
Board of Trustees
Seven trustees from clinical, academic, legal, and community backgrounds — the charter reserves two seats for community members.
Team listings are provisional during formation and will be finalized with state approval.
Academics
The Master of Acupuncture
One degree, two languages, three delivery formats — 27 continuous months from your first online class to a board-ready graduate.
The MAc is a 105-credit, 1,920-hour graduate degree completed in 27 continuous months — nine quarters, year-round, no long summer breaks. Didactic coursework is 100% online; hands-on skills are trained at quarterly intensives on the Wyoming campus hub; and 690 clinical hours are completed at a licensed partner clinic in your home state.
Every course runs bilingually — live sessions taught in English and Mandarin with matched materials. An incoming bachelor's degree is required, so the program carries no general-education filler: every credit is Chinese medicine, biomedicine, or clinical craft.
Every quarter blends the three formats — live online courses, one Wyoming intensive, and, from Quarter 2 onward, clinical hours at your local partner clinic.
01Foundations · Quarters 1–3▾
Months 1–9: core theory, biomedical sciences, and the first hands-on skills. Online: Foundations of Oriental Medicine I–II, Anatomy & Physiology I–II, Medical Terminology, Channels & Collaterals, TCM Diagnosis (Tongue & Pulse), Acupuncture Therapeutics I, Western Pathology I, TCM Internal Medicine I.
Wyoming intensives: Point Location I (upper body), Point Location II (lower body), Clean Needle Technique & Safety
Near home: Clinical Observation I–II — 150 hours shadowing at your local partner clinic
02Pre-Clinical · Quarters 4–5▾
Months 10–15: advanced therapeutics and the bridge into patient care. Online: Acupuncture Therapeutics II, Western Pathology II, TCM Internal Medicine II, Acupuncture Microsystems (ear & scalp), Western Pharmacology, TCM Gynecology & Pediatrics.
Near home: Clinical Internship I–II — your first supervised treatments, 150 hours
03Clinical Internship · Quarters 6–9▾
Months 16–27: a supervised caseload of your own, plus everything a practice needs. Online: Western Physical Exam & Assessment, TCM Orthopedics & Pain Management, Ethics & Jurisprudence, Western Nutrition & Dietetics, Public Health & Epidemiology, Patient Counseling & Communication, Practice Management & Business, Integrated Medicine Case Studies, and the three-part NCBAHM Board Review (Foundations · Acupuncture · Biomedicine).
Wyoming intensive: the OSCE-style Clinical Competency Exam
Near home: Clinical Internship III–VI — 390 hours, owning the visit from diagnosis to follow-up
04The hour ledger — how ACAHM's standard is met▾
ACAHM's required hour breakdown for the Master of Acupuncture — met line by line, then exceeded:
Acupuncture & TCM theory — 705 hours (47 credits)
Biomedicine — 450 hours (30 credits)
Clinical training — 660 hours (22 credits) required; 690 scheduled
Practice management, ethics & counseling — 90 hours (6 credits)
Form a defensible pattern diagnosis from the four examinations, and translate it into treatment principle and method.
Design and safely deliver acupuncture care to clean-needle and safety standards.
Deliver moxibustion, cupping, and tuina competently, and apply auricular and scalp microsystems where indicated.
Recognize red flags, refer appropriately, and collaborate with biomedical providers.
Conduct visits, patient education, and charting in both English and Chinese.
Run an ethical, compliant, and financially sustainable practice.
书 库
Library & Learning Commons
A bilingual medical library that travels with you
Our founding collection is digital-first and built in pairs: every classic held in an authoritative source edition beside its best annotated translation; every clinical subject stocked with core texts and journal databases in both languages — on your desk in whichever state you live.
Full-text digital access to the major biomedical and Chinese-medicine databases, from anywhere, around the clock.
A print reference room and rare-text collection grow at the Wyoming hub, open through every intensive.
Every set text ships as a matched pair — source text, modern Chinese, and English translation.
Academic calendar
Nine year-round quarters — the inaugural calendar
Quarters run three months each, year-round with no long summer break — that's how 27 months reaches the finish line. The founding cohort begins Quarter 1 on May 3, 2027.
Quarter
Dates
Notes
Quarter 1 (2027)
May 3 – Jul 30, 2027
Inaugural quarter; founding ceremony May 1; first Wyoming intensive (Point Location I)
Quarter 2 (2027)
Aug 2 – Oct 29, 2027
Second intensive (Point Location II); local clinical observation begins
Quarter 3 (2027–28)
Nov 1, 2027 – Jan 28, 2028
Includes winter-holiday and Lunar New Year weeks; Clean Needle Technique intensive
Quarter 4 (2028)
Jan 31 – Apr 28, 2028
Pre-clinical phase begins; local Internship I starts
Each quarter carries about 12 teaching weeks plus assessment; the 3–4 day Wyoming intensive dates publish a year ahead so travel stays plannable. The full nine-quarter calendar ships with offers of admission.
The Experience
One cohort, three classrooms: your screen, Wyoming, and home
Live online classes, quarterly intensives, and a local internship — what low-residency medical education actually feels like, day to day.
Four days a quarter that make the medicine physical
A working TCM environment
From the herb-drawer wall to the diagnostic teaching benches, the hub is built with the texture of a working clinic — so every hour on site is Chinese medicine you can touch.
Needling & technique labs
Twelve-table studios with training models and supervisor stations — point location, needling, moxibustion, cupping, tuina, and the Clean Needle Technique assessments all happen here.
Cohort mornings
Intensive days start on the lawn — taiji and qigong at 7:30, the whole cohort together before the labs open. A reunion every quarter.
The clinical pathway
690 hours in three deliberate steps — all near home
Observe · 150 hrs
Quarters 2–3: room flow, first-glance assessment, and how a chart is built — at your local partner clinic.
Early internship · 150 hrs
Quarters 4–5: intake examinations, moxa and cupping, and your first treatments under your supervisor's direct eye.
Full internship · 390 hrs
Quarters 6–9: your own supervised caseload, owning the visit from diagnosis to follow-up.
Every clinical hour is in-person at a licensed partner clinic in your state, run to ACAHM's off-campus clinical training provisions; advancing between phases requires a pass on the corresponding skills assessment.
Home-state internship
Your city is the teaching hospital
We sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a licensed acupuncture clinic in your own city, formally appoint the supervising acupuncturist to our adjunct clinical faculty, and audit every training hour to ACAHM's off-campus clinical standards.
It keeps the "for all" promise twice over: you train without leaving your life, and your community gains supervised, affordable care in the process — so the practice you open after boards begins among neighbors who already know you.
Student life
Beyond the timetable
晨
Morning practice
Daily 7:30 taiji and qigong — livestreamed together year-round, and moved out to the lawn at every intensive.
读
Classics circle
The weekly evening reading that started this school continues — now on video, across four time zones.
组
Regional study pods
Regional pods meet weekly — coursework online, in person where several students share a city, and the whole cohort reunites each intensive.
心
Wellbeing support
Faculty mentorship, bilingual tutoring, and counseling referrals — free throughout the program.
Gallery
Previews of the Wyoming hub to come
The courtyard at golden hour (concept)Morning practiceThe dispensary wallA needling demonstrationA corner of the libraryWhite coats and bamboo (concept)A teaching-clinic treatment room
These are concept renderings of the Wyoming hub design; photographs will replace them as construction progresses.
Admissions
Join the founding class of May 2027
Forty seats, and one chance to be the first — from any state, no relocation required. Applications open October 1, 2026; priority deadline January 15, 2027.
There is no GPA cutoff formula here. We read every file individually, looking for three things: proven capacity for serious study, a clear reason for choosing medicine, and evidence of service to others.
Education: a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution is required, in any field — it's what lets the 27 months skip general-education credits entirely. Foundational biology and chemistry are recommended.
Language: you may enter through either English or Mandarin; by graduation you'll reach clinical-basics level in your second language (we teach it, free).
Location: live anywhere in the U.S. within reach of a licensed acupuncture clinic, and be able to travel to Wyoming once a quarter for the 3–4 day intensive — nine trips across the program.
Documents: online form, statement of purpose, official transcripts, two recommendation letters, valid ID and photo.
Interview: by invitation after file review — in person or online.
首 届
How to apply
Six steps from interest to enrollment
Join the list
Get invited to monthly bilingual info sessions.
Apply online
Opens Oct 1, 2026. Fee: $75 domestic / $150 international.
Complete your file
Review begins when transcripts, letters, and statement arrive.
Interview
A 45-minute conversation with two faculty, in either language.
Decision
Rolling decisions within three weeks of a complete file.
Enroll
Reserve your seat with a $300 deposit (credited to tuition). See you in May.
Priority deadline — full scholarship consideration
March 15, 2027
Regular deadline (extended only if seats remain)
April 26–30, 2027
Orientation week and white-coat ceremony
May 3, 2027
First day of classes — Quarter 1 begins, the institute opens
Enrollment is continuous and year-round: after the founding class, a new cohort begins every quarter, with later intake dates published as soon as the founding class is seated.
Tuition & aid
The price, then the help
Item
Amount
Notes
Tuition per credit
$295
105 credits ≈ $30,975 for the full program
Registration fee
$150 / quarter
Billed once in each of the nine quarters
Practicum kit
$350 / year
Needles, models, and lab materials for the intensives
Student liability cover
$80 / year
From the first clinical phase onward
奖
Founding Scholars Award
Founding cohort only: up to 50% off tuition for the entire program. Every complete application received by January 15 is automatically considered — no extra forms.
助
Grants & payment plans
Need-based grants, zero-interest quarterly payment plans, and paid student roles in the digital library, LMS support, and admissions office.
Figures are the proposed 2027 schedule, subject to board and state approval. Enrolled students lock the per-credit rate in effect at their entry. Budget separately for travel and lodging for the nine Wyoming intensives.
Where you can enroll
Fifty states, one cohort
The institute is designed for students living in the United States — didactics online, clinical training at a partner clinic near you. Here is exactly how eligibility works during formation:
Wyoming residents: eligible under our WDE license from day one.
Every other state: we file for NC-SARA membership immediately after state approval, opening enrollment across the other 49 states; if your state needs any individual authorization, we confirm it during pre-review.
Clinic access: internship requires a licensed acupuncture clinic within commuting reach — tell us your city when you apply and we scout partners alongside your review.
International applicants: as a low-residency program we do not sponsor student visas; you must already hold U.S. status permitting study. Non-U.S. transcripts need a NACES course-by-course evaluation.
Language: for the English track, TOEFL iBT 61+ / IELTS 6.0+ suggested; the Mandarin track is assessed by interview, no English score needed.
Questions? Talk to admissions for fifteen minutes
Monthly bilingual info sessions, or a one-on-one call — in English or Chinese, your choice.
690 supervised clinical hours at a licensed partner clinic near home — the heart of the hybrid model, and where "for all" lands.
医 门
The partner-clinic model
A distributed teaching clinic, one standard
Under ACAHM's off-campus clinical training provisions, we sign MOUs with licensed acupuncture clinics across the country and appoint each supervising acupuncturist to our adjunct clinical faculty — so every training hour is supervised, documented, and audited to one campus-grade standard. In the room, you'll practice:
Tuina & movement coaching sinew-injury care & qigong prescription
The caseload
The concerns you'll learn on
A community acupuncture clinic's everyday caseload becomes your textbook: neck, shoulder, and low-back pain; migraine; insomnia and stress; digestive complaints; allergies and immune support; women's health and cycle concerns; recovery care and constitutional tune-ups. And you'll learn firm referral standards — when a concern isn't acupuncture's to treat, you help the patient find the person whose it is.
Phase
What you do
What your supervisor does
Observe · 150 hrs
Follow room flow, keep visit notes, study how charts are built
Treats and narrates — demonstrating care and judgment
Early internship · 150 hrs
Take intakes, deliver moxa and cupping, draft treatment plans
Approves each step before it happens
Full internship · 390 hrs
Carry your own caseload, diagnosis through follow-up
Reviews and co-signs every chart
Patients always know they're in a teaching encounter, and every treatment is supervised by the clinic's licensed acupuncturist of record.
For clinic owners
Partner with the institute
The MOU
A formal partnership
A Memorandum of Understanding defines training scope, supervision ratios, and quality audits — signed before any student arrives.
Adjunct faculty
Appointment & support
Supervising acupuncturists join our adjunct clinical faculty — with orientation, teaching support, and formal academic appointment.
From Fall 2027
First placements
Founding-cohort students begin observation hours from Quarter 2 in fall 2027; interested clinics can register now — we match by student city.
